One Night Off
by Uh.yeah
Summary: God, I hate coming up with titles. Here is something I dug up from the recesses of my computer. A light hearted, pointless piece of NineRose shippiness.


**A/N:** I barely remember writing this, but I randomly found it and thought I may as well put it up. It's very rough and simple. But see what you think. Kind of inspired by one of my favourite poems – simple, but beautiful. (That's the poem, I mean – I don't think the story worked out that way.)

**Disclaimer: Not. Mine.**

* * *

**Some People**

Some people talk and talk

and never say a thing.

Some people look at you

And birds begin to sing.

Some people laugh and laugh

and yet you want to cry.

Some people touch your hand

and music fills the sky.

_Charlotte Zolotow_

* * *

"So, Doc," began Jack, eagerly rubbing his hands together, "What's it gonna be? We buy a couple of drinks, loosen you up, take you to a nightclub and get you dancing? Although, if you want, we could just go ahead and skip the nightclub..." 

The Doctor turned from locking the TARDIS door and rolled his eyes.

"Firstly, I thought I told you to never, ever call me 'Doc'. Secondly, what makes you think that we're here for relaxation, Captain?"

"Oh, right," intoned Jack, slightly less enthusiastically, "You wanna go off on one of those save-hundreds-of-lives-and-maybe-the-world-then-back-to-Earth-for-chips missions?"

"I like chips," said Rose indignantly, waking up from her quiet assessment of the alien planet. "What's wrong with chips?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Rosie," answered Jack, coming and playfully taking her hand, "I love this whole lovey dovey, 'let's go for chips' thing you and him have got going, but sometimes, I want a little bit of variety, you know?"

Rose extracted her hand from his and shoved him playfully in the shoulder. "Chips are all I feel like after a near death experience, I'm afraid."

"Typical," said the Doctor, laughing and slowly starting to walk off. "Well," he continued, when they fell into step and demanded what he meant – like he'd known they would – "Jack just confesses that he'd rather sit in a bar than save peoples' lives and you two start bickering over chips."

"Hey!" cried Rose and Jack in unison, before Jack went off on explaining that he never meant it like that and Rose starting protesting that she was never arguing, but simply debating.

"Ok, ok," said the Doctor, holding his hands up in mock surrender, "I was joking. I mean, come on, Jack. Did you ever think I was questioning your bravery?"

"Maybe a little," said Jack, shamefaced, and then drawing himself up again; "So, what is it this time?"

The Doctor stopped suddenly and straightened his face into a very grave expression – which he promptly ruined by letting an alarmingly cheerful grin overtake it.

"I don't know," he said happily, "you tell me, Captain. Know any good bars around here?"

"You mean there's no chance of me losing my life or ripping a shirt here?" asked Jack, making sure.

"Don't think so. Unless you're a pretty energetic dancer." said the Doctor, still smiling, "Do you want to go for a drink or not?"

"You bet," said Jack, purposefully taking the lead, "There's a little place up here, I remember showing me a few good nights. At least, I think I remember. It's hard to be sure."

Behind him, the Doctor casually took Rose's hand and together they followed.

One hour later they were sitting in the corner of a atmospheric alien pub. The purple barmaid was cheerfully threading her way through the tables, picking up empty glasses and determinedly resisting Jack's advances.

"She's purple," whispered Rose, after one of Jack's more explicit chat up lines.

"A damned attractive purple," answered Jack, looking after the barmaid with an expression that caused Rose to start laughing. "Anyway, there's no rule that different species can't be attracted to each other."

"That's true," agreed Rose, looking down for a second, "The Doctor had a bit of a thing for a tree once, didn't you?" she asked, nudging him slightly.

"Maybe," smiled the Doctor, giving nothing away. He drained his glass and stood up. "Who wants another?"

"Me," giggled Rose, who was completely unused to the alien alcohol and was starting to show signs of it.

"And me," seconded Jack, whose experience was helping him out a lot, "You feeling loosened up enough yet?" he asked the Doctor suggestively.

"Not nearly enough," answered the Doctor, "I take a lot of alcohol."

"I can wait!" Jack yelled after the alien, as the leather jacket disappeared into the crowd.

When the Doctor returned, precariously carrying all three foaming drinks, he was greeted by the sight of another man sitting at the table. He set the drinks down and regarded the newcomer suspiciously

"Hey, Doc," said Jack, eyes shining, "This is my buddy, Jerome. Used to be a fellow Time Agent. But he got out in time. Always had a conscience, didn't you?" finished Jack, slapping Jerome on the back.

Jerome held out his hand to the Doctor, "Great to meet you..."

"Doctor," filled in the Doctor, taking the proffered hand, still a little guarded.

"Doctor?" asked Jerome, the usual puzzlement showing.

"It's just ' Doctor'," said Rose, helpfully.

"Really?" said Jerome, turning to Rose, "And are you 'just Rose?' A lone flower, travelling with nothing but a name."

"Um... no," said Rose, staring at Jerome in complete disbelief, "I'm Rose Tyler. Twenty first century Earth."

"Yeah," said Jerome, taking a hasty gulp of his drink, "That line really sucked, didn't it?"

"I don't know," said Rose, smiling down at her new drink, "I've heard worse."

She looked up and was greeted by the rewarding sight of the Doctor grinning sheepishly at her.

"Vrenika talking," explained Jerome, "Always hit me that way. Remember, Jack?"

"Do I?" exclaimed Jack, already laughing, "Listen to this, guys. There was this one time, way back, when we were on a mission..."

He proceeded to regale the small group with a story about the Time Agents, aliens, one hell of a lot of alcohol and Jack losing his clothes. By the end of it, Rose had tears in her eyes and even the Doctor was grinning harder than usual.

"And I swear to you," said Jack, helpless with laughter, "those guards had no idea what had hit them. Do you remember Jerome? The way that guy's mouth dropped open when I came in, dancing? I expect they're still recovering now."

"That was nasty, Jack," declared Jerome, "You had no shame whatsoever."

"Still doesn't," said Rose, raising her eyebrows.

Jack flashed her a quick grin and put his arm round Jerome.

"Say, buddy, what about that time when we were circling satellite three and the-"

"And the shop assistant was actually a woman rather than the man you'd assumed it to be?"

As the two men started roaring with laughter, the Doctor went up to get another round of drinks. When he returned, Jack and Jerome had their arms over each other's shoulders and were singing a song they'd learnt in a brothel, east of Maltonko, while Rose was staring into space, looking as if she was miles away.

She smiled ruefully when she saw him and rolled her eyes. The Doctor sat back down and she stared at him a while, her head tiredly resting in her hands.

"Hey," she said, when it became clear that the song would not be ending any time soon, "Do you want to go get some air?"

"Good idea," grinned the Doctor, standing up quickly.

"Jack!" yelled Rose, waving her hand wildly in front of his face, "Hey Jack! We're going. See you later. Maybe. Nice meeting you, Jerome."

The two men didn't even blink.

They stepped out into the cool night. The air was cold and welcome on Rose's skin.

"God, it was hot in there," she said, rubbing her hands over her face, "I bet I'm all red now."

"A damned attractive red," said the Doctor, in a near perfect imitation of Jack.

Rose laughed, throwing her head back happily and flushed an even deeper shade of red.

"I didn't know you did impressions," she said, smiling at him with her tongue between her teeth.

"Full of surprises, me," answered the Doctor, smiling back.

She shuffled her feet a bit and looked up at the dark sky, pricked with millions of bright pink specks of light.

"Stars," she commented, vaguely, just as something to say.

"Yep," answered the Doctor, gently threading his hand through hers, "Lots and lots of stars."

Rose rested her head on his shoulder and grinned up at him. In a contented silence they began slowly wandering back to the TARDIS, their thoughts lost in the night, the stars and each other.

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Well. That was odd. But even if the fic didn't work out, at least I got to share the poem with you... 


End file.
